How expired is EXPIRED? re: insulin

Type 1 and LADA
#1

I had 3 trays of Humalog in my fridge that I noticed the expiration date was coming up quickly. April 2010. I kinda/sorta noticed that recently my Humalog just did not seem to have the big bang/effect that it had in the pass. I asked the Walgreens Pharmaists, "How expired is expired? She explained that in most incidents that the product should last longer than the expired date as long as it was in the fridged.

But I was not trusting that response. So I ordered new trays of Humalog. And will be tracking the differance if any and will let you know of the outcome.

SO THE BIG QUESTION TO MY FELLOW READERS IS: Do you notice if there is a differance in effectivness in insulin if it is close to the expiration date?

#2

I have several expired (meaning 10-09) vials of Lantus…I have the same question actually. My wife and I have no idea regarding their usefulness/uselessness or danger. I know they have been refrigerated. Im glad you brought this up…How expired is “EXPIRED” NOTE: I also ordered new meds Tuesday and they should be delivered tomorrow.

#3

Thanks Dave. I will give it try. I know the vials I get tomorrow will be cycled far into the future. Cant hurt to see what the other vials do or dont do.

#4

The drug companies usually only test the effectiveness of a med out to a certain time, thus guaranteeing the dose until the “expiration date”. It is not cost effective to test them further out for the companies. Most drugs last quite a bit longer. Some can last a couple of years longer. The military has tested quite a few drugs a year after they were supposed to expire and found they were just fine.

#5

actually, you have three months window period for the vial of insulin when you first open it…let’s just say…if you open it jan.1, you then have until the end of march or april 1…for me it doesn’t matter whether i finished the whole vial or not i normally discard it due to the fact of infection control issue…this is true if you’re the only one using the vial…if it’s a multiple user in one vial, it only goes up to a month or so…as for the expiration date printed in the vial…i would discard it and not use it if it is pass or on expiration date…after all, the dates are there for a reason…that is to remind us not to use it anymore…hope this helps…:slight_smile:

#6

Personally, I use insulin up too quickly to ever see a vial expire. :slight_smile: I go through a vial in just under 2 weeks, usually. But I would feel comfortable using an expired vial up to two or three months past its expiration - though I would certainly watch for control issues and ketones and remember to consider the expiration date as a factor if I had any problems.

#7

Learned the hard way a few years back. I won’t use the insulin if it’s passed the expired date because it made my bs go way up.

#8

I’ve used insulin past experiation date and didn’t notice any persistent highs. I think it’s possible for expired insulin to be less potent but that it does not necessarily have to become so.